


Down the Trail (to somewhere)

by apollosflame (lalliana)



Category: CP Coulter's Dalton - Fandom, Dalton Academy Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 16:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1785337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalliana/pseuds/apollosflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>“You all right, man?” The man – teen, actually; about Julian’s age – asked with concern, hands still open in front of his shoulders.</em> </p>
<p>  <em>“I,” Julian gasped, leaning against the tree to calm the sudden dizziness. “There was a – a wolf,” he explained, trying to blink back the black edging his vision.</em></p>
<p>  <em>He got an incredulous look in response, too out of it to make sense of the strange tightening around the man’s eyes. “We’re in Ohio – there’re no wolves here.”</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Down the Trail (to somewhere)

Though Julian was still decidedly Not Happy about being trapped in Ohio for a week, he could admit that maybe Carmen had a point about needing a break. Being dropped in the middle of nowhere was annoying – because seriously?  _Ohio_? Couldn’t it have been Greece or something? – but, he supposed it had its charms.

The forest, for example, was  _amazing_.

Julian had been rather excited once he realized that the surprisingly nice hotel he was staying in had a large stretch of forest behind it; even, he’d found after asking the receptionist, a small lake a ways into the trees. He’d come at what he thought was the best time of the season, when it was almost always overcast. Rain, therefore, was nearly guaranteed.

It had been drizzling throughout the entire day, a light sprinkle of water that seemed to be weaved into the air itself instead of falling from the sky. The forest had smelled fresh and inviting, and Julian didn’t fight the restless urge to walk through the towering trees and lush undergrowth. He stopped for a moment, once the hotel had disappeared from sight, to trail his fingers over the soft leaves of a fern, growing large and vibrant green right next to the dirt trail. It felt like velvet against his skin, and he was tempted to pull a section of the plant to keep with him as he continued to walk. In the end he didn’t, continuing on his meandering stroll.

He had been walking for nearly a half hour when he first noticed the strange stillness of the forest. The birds that had been calling quietly over the fall of rain when he first entered the trees were now absent, and even the small rustle of plants from small animals fleeing from his presence had gone. Julian paused, heart beginning to race. The hair on the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably, and every instinct in his body was shouting at him to run.

And though Julian turned to obey, he froze when a low growl sounded from behind.

Closing his eyes slowly and swallowing hard against the fear clawing at his throat, Julian prayed that he hadn’t actually heard what he thought he had. That it was all his mind playing tricks on him. But the rustle of plants warned him otherwise, and he turned slowly in place to look into bright yellow eyes.

The large wolf was completely black, its lips pulled back in an aggressive snarl to show sharp white teeth. Long strands of clear saliva dripped to the ground from the animal’s jaw, and Julian noticed, with ever growing horror, that there was a small bit of foam gathering at the curve of its lip.

It was still growling, the sound a steady rumble barely audible under the increasingly heavy rain, and when it took a single step forward, Julian couldn’t help but step back in tandem. A split second later, Julian was crashing into the undergrowth, the wet, muscular weight of the wolf against his chest and legs, trapping him against the muddy ground. There was an angry snarl and then horrible pain as the animal’s long teeth sank into Julian’s side.

Julian screamed, kicking out at the wolf, catching the large creature in its stomach. Other than an angry snarl, the only reaction to the kick was increased pressure on the bite, the teeth pressing deeper into Julian’s flesh, holding firmly to keep Julian still. Julian screamed again, body jerking and twisting under the animal’s weight in an effort to escape. It hurt to move, each of his struggles pulling and tearing at the skin caught in the wolf’s mouth, but he couldn’t stop. Adrenaline was dulling the pain enough that the part of him screaming to run, escape,  _fight_  was taking over.

Though Julian barely registered the sound, the wolf’s head snapped up when another howl resonated in the forest. It snarled again, muscles tensing against Julian’s prone form, then, with a flash of pale and black fur, it was gone. Julian scrambled back, his eyes darting wildly in search of where the animal went, using a tree to help him stand. He was shaking uncontrollably, his nerves so frayed that when a weight landed on his shoulder, he screamed again and spun around, only to come face-to-face with a brown-haired man.

The man raised his hands in front of him, placating. One hand, Julian belatedly realized, had been on his shoulder, which was what surprised him.

“You all right, man?” The man – teen, actually; about Julian’s age – asked with concern, hands still open in front of his shoulders.

“I,” Julian gasped, leaning against the tree to calm the sudden dizziness. “There was a – a wolf,” he explained, trying to blink back the black edging his vision.

He got an incredulous look in response, too out of it to make sense of the strange tightening around the man’s eyes. “We’re in Ohio – there’re no wolves here.”

Julian laughed, a bit hysterically. “There damn well are –“

He spun around again when there was more crashing in the undergrowth, and the black wolf rolled into view, followed by a larger white wolf. Julian bit back another yelp, muffled more when the other teen’s hand covered his mouth with a soft curse. He nearly yelped again when the teen’s other arm wrapped around his waist and kicked at his knee, bringing Julian silently back down to the forest floor and hovering over his body. The boy kept his hand over Julian’s mouth and watched the two wolves carefully. Julian nearly started to fight him, wanting to run; but a glare from the other boy warned him to stay still.

So Julian turned his eyes to the two fighting wolves, just in time to see the white wolf sink its teeth into the other’s neck, the short fur around its muzzle going red. The black wolf  _screamed_  – there really wasn’t any other word for it; the sound so eerily human-like that Julian jolted in surprise, hands going up to fist in the brunet’s shirt. The wolf struggled furiously beneath its opponent, but the other stayed still, ignoring the claws scrambling at its sides, sending bright bursts of red through the white fur.

The image before him gave Julian a sudden, nauseating sense of deja-vu.

With one low growl, the white wolf jerked its head. A loud snap sounded in the clearing and the other wolf went abruptly lax, its paws falling limply to the side. The form started to go fuzzy, and the man atop him cursed, shifting to obscure Julian’s view of the two wolves. The movement also pressed against the bite at Julian’s side, forgotten in the chaos until the sudden flash of renewed pain. He whimpered and jerked, pushing against the boy over him, hot tears prickling at his eyes. The boy looked down at him, annoyed, until he saw Julian’s eyes.

“Did he bite you?” He asked. Demanded, really - the words as intense as the look he gave Julian, like he was searching for the truth in Julian’s face.

Clenching his jaw, Julian gave a single, curt nod. The boy cursed in response, shifting back down and shoving Julian’s shirt up, fingers tracing carefully around the wound bleeding sluggishly into the damp ground. Though the boy’s attention was on the bite, Julian glanced up at the wolf, afraid the newcomer would smell the blood and attack like the first.

Much to Julian’s surprise, however, there was only one wolf there, hovering over the body of a naked Asian teen. When the wolf glanced up at him, Julian’s eyes met vibrant green, just as pure a color as the black wolf’s yellow gaze had been. It sat back on the ground to the body’s side and licked its chops absently, eyes still trained on Julian.

“Shit,” came the boy’s voice from above him. “ _Shit_.”

Julian blinked slowly. His thoughts were strangely muddled and slow, his body suddenly lethargic. The bite on his side was warm and getting hotter and hotter with each second, his limbs feeling cold and immovable in contrast. His vision went fuzzy then suddenly, sharply clear before his eyes rolled back in their sockets as the heat became nearly unbearable, inching slowly from the bite to the surrounding skin. Gis blood felt like molten lava running through his veins up to his brain where it _burned,_ his mind feeling as though it was lit on fire, until every rational thought was whiped from his head until he couldn’t even remember basic words.

There was sound and movement above him, shifts of air that made Julian whine and struggle, wanting, needing, to hide his pain and weakness from the others, to not let them see him vulnerable and easy to dominate, easy to control and own and  _kill_  –

There was weight on his arms and legs, keeping him still and he moaned, whined at his defenselessness, knowing he had not the strength to fight back and was completely at the other’s mercy. He still struggled, head thrashing back and forth and torso twisting as much as his trapped limbs would allow, not wanting to lay down and take it without a fight.

Another noise came from above his head, a sound that sounded familiar but he couldn’t understand past the fire in his mind. The world was unsteady, rocking and swaying like the rain had come down so hard that he was no longer laying on the ground, but floating on gently-lapping water. But he could still feel those over him, and suddenly they shifted, the one holding him pinned was gone and instead there was something warm over him, something heavy and strong and soft.

Soft, except for the edges of teeth dimpling the skin of his neck.

Julian gasped, mind chaotically scrambling, something remembered about teeth just like that, and pain and fear. He arched his back with a desperate keening sound, body shuddering with the want to get away, until the teeth vibrated against his skin and a growl echoed in his ears. The weight pressed more firmly against his chest, heavy enough that Julian felt it get harder to breath and knew he was once again pinned to the ground.

But this time, Julian settled. This time, the weight was reassuring, calming. He felt his body go liquid, and he tipped his head back, exposing more of his neck, submissive and docile despite the awful heat still lapping at his nerves, to this new wolf, this new man. To the one who would care for him, to his leader.

His Alpha.

And with that slotting something in place, a strange and almost frightening feeling of  _rightness_  fell and Julian let go, relaxing into unconsciousness.

——

The first thing came aware of was warmth. Warmth, and soft textures that brushed gently against his bare skin when he moved lazily, nuzzling into the plush pillow beneath his head and stretching, muscles going taught then once again relaxed. The air was filled with an earthy, woodsy scent that reminded him of walking through the woods after rain, of trailing a soft fern through his fingers before –

Gasping, Julian sat up in the bed, soft furs falling to pool around his hips. He glanced around the room quickly, taking in the furniture - a couple chairs, a dresser and end table, and, of course, the  _massive bed_ he was in, all with an elegant mix of modern lines and rustic colors. There was a large oak door across from him, another right next to the bed. One side of the room was made up of floor to ceiling windows, the dense forest spread out for as far as Julian could see, morphing from easily discernible trees into a blanket of gently rolling green hills.

Julian stood on shaky legs, wrapping the furs about his naked form and walking over to the windows. The glass was warm to the touch, filtering none of the bright sunlight that had warmed Julian in his sleep. It was a beautiful day; skies clear of anything but bright blue, the nearest trees rustling softly with a gentle breeze. The sun lightened everything into such vibrant colors that it almost seemed unreal. It would have been a picturesque and envy-worthy view if Julian weren’t so busy wondering where the hell he was.

The turning of a lock was inordinately loud, making Julian spin in surprise, grasping the furs closer to his chest and nearly tripping over them as he stepped back, feeling vulnerable and confused. When the door opened, a tall blond teen stood in the doorway, dressed in a white button-up shirt and fitted khaki pants. The shirt was unbuttoned to mid-chest, showing an expanse of tanned skin, and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His hair was styled back from his face, not a strand covering his aristocratic features and green,  _green_  eyes.

Very familiar green eyes.

“You’re awake,” the teen said, evidently pleased from both the tone of his voice and the smug pleasure in his gaze.

“Where am I?” Julian demanded in return, his voice brittle as his nerves. The boy was beautiful, and it just unsettled Julian more than if he had been plain or ugly.

“How do you feel?” The blond asked, ignoring Julian’s question. His gaze flicked over Julian’s face then quickly down his body, a line appearing between his brows at the furs covering his view of Julian. It made Julian flush and curl his shoulders defensively, wrapping the soft material closer around himself.

“How about you answer my question and I’ll answer yours?”

The teen’s gaze flicked back up to Julian’s, amused. “All right,” He said, the tone of his voice making it obvious he was humoring Julian’s demands. It made Julian bristle with anger. “You’re in Ohio, about twenty miles from where you were attacked.”

“ _Why_?”

The blond tilted his head, eyes dancing. “I believe it’s your turn to answer my question.”

“Fuck you,” Julian snarled, retreating a step when the teen entered the room and closed the door behind him. “Why am I here? Why am I  _naked_?”

“I need to know how you feel in order to tell you why you’re naked.”

“Confused,” Julian snapped, deliberately twisting the boy’s meaning. “Angry, upset, _annoyed_ –“

“Terrified,” The teen drawled with a roll of his eyes, ignoring Julian’s furious sputtering. “I know - I can smell it on you. But you know that’s not what I meant. How do you feel  _physically_?”

Ignoring the first part of the interruption - smell him? _What?_ \- Julian bit out, “Does it matter? I didn’t think that  _kidnappers_  cared too much –“

“Jesus, we didn’t  _kidnap_  you.” The boy snapped, suddenly annoyed. “I would tell you not to be dramatic, but I suppose that’s your thing, isn’t it?”

The words sent a strange coldness through Julian’s frame, knowing that they knew who he was. “So what do you want, then? Ransom money?”

“Ransom –“ The boy barked out a laugh. “Do you really think that we need ransom money?” He asked, pointedly gesturing at the furnishings and the view.

“For all I know, you made all this money by  _kidnapping celebrities_.”

“God, I don’t even know why I’m asking – you must be fine if you can come up with all these  _ridiculous_ theories –“

“Why am I  _here_?!”

“Because you got bit by a wolf!”

“Most people take hurt people to the  _hospital_ , not  _kidnap_  them –“

“ _Sit down_!”

‘No!’ was what Julian meant to yell in reply, but it was rather a moot point when he realized that he  _had_. Blinking in surprise and wondering about how easily he obeyed the man’s harsh command, Julian nearly stood up again on principal, but then the teen was pushing him back onto the bed with snarled curses, ripping the furs from around Julian despite Julian’s struggles, putting his hand on Julian’s sternum to keep him down. A warning glare had Julian stilling against his will, and the boy leaned down to smooth his fingers over where Julian was bitten. Julian tensed, expecting pain, but was surprised when he just shivered, the fingers trailing softly against un-torn skin instead of a gaping wound.

“What?” Julian breathed, propping himself up on an elbow to glance down at his side. Instead of the raw bite that Julian knew  _should_  have been there, only an angry red mark remained from the wolf’s attack, and even that was beginning to fade around the edges into the soft white of an old scar.

“Now,” The boy said firmly, broad hand hiding the scar from Julian’s sight, his other pressing on the middle of Julian’s chest, “ _How do you feel_?”

“Fine,” Julian answered faintly, still staring blankly at the covered mark. “I feel fine.”

“Were you stiff when you woke up, or felt like there was something wrong?”

“No. I was warm and comfortable.” Julian briefly wondered what the questions meant, but most of his attention was still on the fact that  _the_   _bite was healed_. “What’s going on?”

“You’re lucky,” The boy said grimly, standing up and moving to rummage in one of the dresser’s drawers. “The transformation isn’t so gentle on most.”

“Transform – What are you  _talking_  about?”

They boy didn’t answer – which was really beginning to grate on Julian’s nerves – and tossed him a bundle of cloth, which turned out to be sweats and a t-shirt. “Go take a shower. We cleaned most of the sweat off of you, but I think you should get clean on your own.”

“You –“ Julian broke off with a strangled sound and turned on his heel to flee into the other door, locking it behind him and blushing furiously at the other boy’s laugh. Only when a few seconds of undisturbed silence passed did Julian drop the furs around him, stepping up to the large mirror to examine his new scar.

It was strange, Julian thought as he turned to the side, how innocuous the proof of yesterday seemed, like the terror of it should have passed with the healing of the bite. As he trailed his fingers over the mark, noting how it seemed slightly more sensitive than the surrounding skin, he finally allowed himself to wonder about his strange predicament. If the bite hadn’t been healed, he would have just thought that they  _had_  kidnapped him for ransom or whatever else psychos kidnap famous celebrities for. But with the bizarre rapid-healing of what should have been a painful and slow-healing wound, Julian was beginning to wonder if everything was not as clear-cut as he'd first thought.

* * *

Once he was clean and dressed (and trying  _really_  hard to ignore the thought of unknown people cleaning him while he was unconscious), Julian slunk back into the room, unsurprised when he found the blond teen still there, lounging with careless grace on one of the leather chairs. He was, however, surprised to see that the boy from the woods was there as well, idly tapping away on a slim black cellphone. The brunet glanced up when Julian entered the room, and after with a final few taps of keys, put his phone away to watch Julian carefully.

The blond was, at first glance, barely paying attention to Julian, but a closer look had Julian noticing his gaze was also trained firmly on Julian, and Julian had no doubt that he would be in motion at the slightest hint of aggression. The thought of it made Julian strangely nervous, some strange new sense warning him not to push too hard.

Which is, of course, exactly what it made Julian want to do.

“Are you going to explain what’s going on now?” Julian asked sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his weight onto one leg, deliberately cocky.

The blond’s eye twitched and he scowled, but it was the brunet who answered, “Yes. If you’ll let us.”

“I’ve been asking for an explanation – I’m not going to stop you from giving one,” Julian replied, tapping his foot impatiently as he watched the two. A dual feeling of fear and satisfaction came from the building annoyance in the blond’s gaze and he smirked, staring challengingly into the teen’s eyes despite a large portion of his instincts screaming at him to stop.

“Well,” The brunet said dryly, looking blandly amused at Julian’s passive-aggressive actions, “long story short: You’re a werewolf. Congratulations.”

Julian blinked. “Werewolves.” Blinked again when the two boys just continued to stare at him. “Right.” Julian sighed wearily and pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes. “Why couldn’t my abductors be  _sane_?”

The brunet laughed. Blondie, on the other hand, still looked annoyed. “You wanted to know why you’re here.”

“Yes,” Julian said slowly, “But I wanted the  _truth_.”

“That  _is_  the truth,” the brunet said, leaning back in his chair. “You’re one of us, now.”

“But that’s  _impossible_  –“

“So is a wolf’s bite healing in thirty-two hours, but I don’t see you freaking out about  _that_.”

“Thirty –“ Julian paled. ”It’s been  _thirty-two_  hours?” He swore and ran his hands through his hair, started to pace the room. “Carmen’s going to  _freak_.”

“Wait,” The blond said, leaning forward and staring at Julian incredulously. “You got attacked by a wolf, woke in a strange place with two people telling you that you’re now a werewolf – don’t look at me like that, D, you know it sounds crazy to newbies – and you’re worried about your  _manager_?”

“Yes, I – wait.” Julian paused in his pacing to glare at the blond. “How did you know Carmen’s my manager?”

“Because we have google?” the brunet said, raising an eyebrow. “And because she’s called your phone a dozen times already.”

“Fuck,” Julian said with feeling, closing his eyes briefly to stave off his irritation. “Wonderful. Where’s my phone? I need to call her back.”

The brunet started to choke on nothing, while the blond hissed, “Are you  _demented_? Why would you think we’d allow you to call anyone?”

“Well, you’ve just spent a lot of time trying to convince me you’re not kidnapping me, and non-kidnappers would allow me to use my phone, right?”

The choking had turned into hysterical laughter, though the blond was still staring at him like he was insane. “No.  _Absolutely_  not. Can we get back on topic, here?”

“Right,” said Julian, annoyed and completely sick of the entire situation. “Werewolves. Fuck, are you guys really serious? What is  _wrong_  with you?”

“Look, princess,” the blond snapped, bolting upright from his chair to glare at Julian, patients obviously run out, “We don’t like it any more than you do, but you’re our responsibility now –“

“Well, don’t do me any _favors_ –“

“- and you’re going to listen to us so you don’t accidentally  _kill_  someone.”

“Listen, you bastard,” Julian hissed, pushing down the nearly-overwhelming and  _bizarre_  urge to lay on his back and bare his neck and stomach to the other teen, “I don’t know what sick joke this is, but I’ve had  _enough_  –“

“You think  _you’ve_  had enough?” The teen’s voice was low, a deep rumble in his chest that sent Julian’s instincts into near-meltdown. “Listen, princess –“

“Don’t  _call me that_  –“

The blond snarled and jerked his shirt over his head and threw it at the other teen, ignoring the worried “Logan –“ as he quickly stripped of his pants and underwear and started to prowl towards Julian.

Throat dry (because  _fuck_  he was hot, even when he looked like he wanted to strangle someone), Julian retreated a step with a bewildered, “What the hell –“

Then he was suddenly on the bed, blinking up at the large white wolf from two nights ago, its haunches up as it glared down at Julian, teeth bared in an angry snarl. Terror washed over him in a suffocating wave, and Julian made a whimpering noise and pushed at the furred chest, his side jolting in remembered pain of the last time a wolf was atop him. With another sound of fear, Julian tried to scramble backwards and away from the large wolf, nearly sobbing when its eyes narrowed and a rumbling growl shook its chest. Julian crossed his arms across his face, wanting to protect himself although he knew it wouldn’t do  _anything_ , when the weight on him suddenly  _changed_ , and he found himself on his stomach with his arm trapped behind his back. He struggled instinctively, until he realized it was a  _human_  hand around his wrist, keeping his arm bent and still. Another hand was stroking down his side, calming him as soft words were whispered into his ear, telling him to breath.

It was only then that he realized he was hyperventilating, shaking nearly uncontrollably against the bed. Hot tears were running down his face and he couldn’t stop thinking about the other wolf, the pain of it sinking its teeth into him while he was helpless to stop it, not matter how he fought it wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t let go –

“Calm down,” the voice in his ear said softly, carefully. His wrist was released and he brought it beneath him, curled slightly to the side while warm hands stroked up and down his back, up under his borrowed shirt to slide gently against his skin. The barest scrape of nails had Julian shivering, and though he thought it should scare him, the sensation helped jerk his mind back from panic.

The boy on top of him must have noticed, as he said, “There you are,” and turned Julian onto his back. He smiled softly and cupped Julian’s face, gently brushing away the tear trails with his thumbs. “Do you now, at least, believe us now about the werewolf thing?”

Julian choked on a laugh, still shaking and jittery from the panic, his mind fuzzy and unable to grasp firmly to any thoughts. “Your timing sucks.”

The boy – Logan, if what the other brunet said was right – winced, expression vaguely apologetic. “Probably. But now we have the inevitable ‘prove it’ conversation taken care of.”

Julian gave a tentative smile, which widened when he heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the brunet’s voice saying, “ _Jesus_ , Logan, you’re an insensitive ass.”

Twisting to bestow a frown upon his friend, Logan said, “Fuck you, D. You knew it would have happened.”

“Yes, but you didn’t have to go all dominant Alpha-Wolf right after he’s had a  _traumatic experience_ centered around being attacked by a wolf. I  _know_  you’re smarter than this.”

“Yeah well,” Logan grumbled, falling onto the bed and pulling a pliant Julian back to spoon against him, “I’m still getting used to being Alpha, you know.”

Julian smiled at their bantering, a sensation of lethargic peace curling around him at the feeling of Logan against him. Though, he thought, the entire situation should be bothering him more than it was.

“Why isn’t this bothering me?” He asked, blinking sleepily up at the brunet.

“Oh,” said the brunet in sudden realization. He pointed at Logan. “He’s Alpha.”

“I got that,” Julian retorted, squirming when Logan pinched his side with a warning of “Be good.”

“Well, it’s like with any dogs – the one who’s dominant calls the shots, while the rest of us feel the need to obey. It’ll be really strong and strange for you during the first couple weeks, and you’ll feel a crazy need to please him. Unfortunately,” he continued, eyeing Julian with resigned weariness, “you seem the stubborn type,” Julian snorted in amusement and sent the teen a brilliant smile, “which means you’ll probably fight against it and there’ll be quite a few arguments.”

Logan groaned again his neck, the vibrations making Julian squirm again. “You’re such a pessimist, D.”

“Is that your name?” Julian asked with a yawn, tired despite the fact he’d woken not long ago. “Dee?”

“No,” the boy said, smiling and ruffling Julian’s hair, and it was a testament to how strange the entire thing was that Julian let him without a fuss. “D’s just a nickname from Logan, here. My name’s Derek Seigerson, and that’s Logan Wright.”

“Oh,” Julian said blearily, yawning again. “I’m Julian Larson.”

“We know,” Derek said with an amused smile. “It’s a little obvious.”

“Just trying to be polite.” The words came out slurred and Julian forced his eyes open, not sure when he closed them. They slid back shut with a soft moan, however, when Logan gently bit at the back of his neck, and Julian shifted back to get closer.

“Oh my  _god_ ,” Derek’s voice said, strangled with both horror and amusement. “You two have it  _bad_. You didn’t imprint this hard on anyone else, Lo.”

“Shut up, Derek,” Logan said against Julian’s neck, continuing to lap and bite at the skin. It felt really nice, Julian thought distantly, floating on the sensations. Really,  _really_  nice, sending little shocks of gentle pleasure throughout his body at every hit of teeth and tongue, following him all the way down to sleep.

* * *

Waking up the next day wasn’t as nice.

Well, actually, it  _was_  nice, which was the problem. He’d woken to a warm weight draped over his side, and a veritable furnace against his back, warm and soft and fitting perfectly along the length of his body.

A furnace that just happened to be breathing.

Now, this wasn’t necessarily a  _bad_  thing, and Julian was just about to turn around and suck a kiss against the man’s jaw when the previous day rushed back into his brain and he let out a rather un-manly sound and jerked away, staring, horrified, at a very naked and very annoyed-at-being-woken Logan, with ruffled and touchable hair and dazed eyes and pink lips and a boner that tented the light sheet over his hips.

It took a few seconds for Logan to realize what was going on, and when he did, his expression was just as horrified as Julian was sure his own was. They stared at each other for a few, horrendously awkward moments, before Julian said faintly, “Can we pretend that didn’t happen?”

“Yes,” Logan said firmly and a little desperately. “ _Yes_ , that’s a brilliant idea.” He jumped out of the bed and quickly pulled his pants on – and Julian wasn’t disappointed, he  _wasn’t_  – then turned back to Julian, shirt in one hand and the other running through his hair. He cleared his throat awkwardly then said, “Well, as you can probably guess by now, werewolves are sometimes, er, not in control of their instincts.”

“Oh my god,” Julian said, covering his face and trying not to burst into hysterical laughter or tears. “Werewolves.  _Jesus_.”

“Don’t worry,” said Logan, once again in some semblance of control now that he was mostly dressed, “You’ll get used to it.”

“Like  _you_  have?” Julian accused, glaring pointedly at Logan and his still-bare chest. It was a nice chest.

“I have a new set of instincts that I’m getting used to, as well,” Logan said cooly, crossing his arms. Jesus, they were nice arms.

“So this won’t happen again?”

“It shouldn’t?” Logan said, his voice tilting hesitantly on the last syllable. “I mean, it’s never happened with anyone else, so I’d assume not.”

“Great,” said Julian, flopping back onto the large bed and covering his eyes with his forearm. “I get turned into a werewolf, which aren’t even supposed to  _exist_ , and now my supposed ‘Alpha’ is imprinting creepily on me. What is my life?”

“Hey,” Logan said, and Julian could hear the frown in his voice. “I’m still Alpha, and you should probably listen to me.”

Julian waved a hand at him. “Yeah, got that – Wait.” He said, sitting upright to watch Logan warily, hunching his shoulders into a defensive posture. “You were the white wolf. You  _killed_  the other one.”

With a loud, longsuffering sigh, Logan ran a hand over his face. “God, I need coffee.”

“You killed another werewolf,  _snapped his neck with your teeth_ , and you’re, what, craving  _coffee_?! What is  _wrong_  with you?”

“He was rabid,” Logan snapped with a furious glare. “He went Wild and  _bit a civilian_. It was my responsibility, as the only other Alpha, to make sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Not much different than your society would.”

“We don’t  _kill_  people –“

“Don’t you?” Logan asked, eyes focused intently on Julian. “If there’s a dangerous criminal with a weapon, who already attacked one person and was well on his way to attacking another, wouldn’t your officers suppress the threat?”

“That’s –“

“Different?” sneered Logan. “How? Because you use guns?”

“Yes!” Julian yelled, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Because they don’t bite them and then  _snap their necks._ ”

“I used the tools and weapons I had at the time, Julian. Nothing more.”

Julian knew that logically, it made sense. Even morally, in some ways. But Julian couldn’t get passed the image of red blood against white fur and the wet snap that echoed around the clearing at a simple jerk of Logan’s head, the nonchalance of the wolf when it - when  _he_  licked away the blood around his mouth while sitting calmly beside the body of one of his own.

“Do you even feel sorry about it?”

With a tilt of his head, eyes still trained steadily on Julian’s, Logan seemed to think for a second. “… No,” he said eventually, “I’m not. Wong and I have never seen eye-to-eye, and it wasn’t a secret that he was a bad Alpha. The fact that he went Wild was proof enough.”

“Proof? What are you  _talking_  about?” Julian asked, incredulous and a bit frightened at Logan’s complete lack of guilt.

“An Alpha will only go rabid if they cannot handle the pressures of being leader to a pack. Wong bit off more than he could chew when he became this pack’s Alpha, and it eventually drove him mad. I was visiting, in fact, because we were thinking he was on his way to going Wild.”

“We?”

“Yes,” Logan said with condescending amusement, “Did you not think we had a system of pseudo-government? There are laws eveNow, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Julian was just about to turn around and suck a kiss against the man’s jaw when the previous day rushed back into his brain and he let out a rather un-manly sound and jerked away, staring, horrified, at a very naked and very annoyed-at-being-woken Logan, with ruffled and touchable hair and dazed eyes and pink lips and a boner that tented the light sheet over his hips. n in the Wolf community, and Wong broke more than one that night, as well as refused to search for help when he knew he couldn’t handle being pack Alpha.”

“I…” Julian trailed off and looked to the side, stomach still churning uncomfortably. “I’ve never given much thought to werewolf politics.”

His words got a snort of amusement from Logan, who walked back to the bed, eyes narrowing when Julian flinched. “Why are you so adamant about this anyway? Wong  _attacked_  you, and you’re never going to be the same after what he did. I would think that you’d hate him for that.”

With a sigh, Julian ran his hand through his hair and stared absently out the window. “How long have you been a werewolf?”

“Me?” Logan asked, blinking at the sudden change of subject. “I was born one. All Alphas are.”

“Oh,” said Julian, slotting that piece of information into his brain for later. “Well, then, my point is even more apt.” He looked back at Logan and said, “I wasn’t born into this, so whatever deviations your government and social norms have from the ones I grew up in are going to be strange to me. I’m not used to such… ruthless killing. Even if it  _was_  necessary,” he said quickly when Logan scowled and opened his mouth, “It’s not something that I’m just going to suddenly be okay with.”

Logan cocked his head to the side and watched Julian curiously. The gesture was so very dog like that Julian half expected him to whine, and had to bite his lip against a wide smile at the mental image. It must have been evident that his thoughts weren’t the most respectful, as Logan’s eyes narrowed at him and said, “Well, that’s why you’re here – we need to teach you our ways, and make sure you learn how to handle your new abilities.”

“New abilities?” Julian asked, blinking. “Like, changing into a wolf? Like you can?”

“Eventually, yes; but not until the full moon. I’m talking about the other stuff.”

“There’s other stuff?”

“Yeeees,” Logan said with obvious amusement. “You haven’t noticed?” Julian gave him a flat look, trying to convey exactly what he thought about the obvious question, and Logan snorted. “Enhanced hearing, smell, strength, reflexes, agility, and of course, healing. You’ll also be able to see just as well at night as you do in the day.”

“Oh.” This was going to be a headache. “Really?”

Logan nodded, eyes sparkling. “You probably haven’t noticed because we’re all Wolves, and kind of pander to our enhanced senses. Concentrate,” he ordered suddenly, all amusement gone in a flash. “See if you can hear something downstairs.”

Although he wanted to argue that the demand was  _impossible_ , Julian was curious, and remembered how loud the turn of a lock had sounded yesterday, when he’d first met Logan. Shooting a suspicious glance at Logan (and ignoring the returned eye-roll), Julian closed his eyes and  _listened_.

At first, all he could hear was his and Logan’s breathing. But after a few moments, other things started to slip in as well; the rustle of leaves outside and a distant bird call, the rush of water through pipes beneath their feet. He followed the sound as it rushed downstairs, where he could hear  _more_  things, soft voices and the padding of bare feet against tile, the sound of metal against ceramic as well as a familiar hiss and gurgle.

“They’re making coffee,” Julian said gleefully, opening his eyes. “ _Coffee_.”

Logan laughed, and the pleased turn of his lips combined with the returned sparkle in his eyes made Julian grin widely, proud that he met Logan’s expectations.

Then he scowled, because what the  _fuck_?

“Come on,” Logan said, and Julian looked up to find him turning towards the door. “We both need coffee, and I need to introduce you to Bailey and the rest.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title from _The Wolf_ by Fever Ray.  
>  Will be adding more tags as the story progresses, as well as raising the rating. Maybe more pairings, too.


End file.
